Juniors prepare for CONCACAF tourney

Barbados Under-15 girls and Under-17 footballers intend to give it their best shot in the upcoming CONCACAF tournament and therefore are putting in the necessary groundwork during the Barbados Football Association’s Elite Summer Camp held at the Wildey, St Michael AstroTurf.

Speaking with Barbados TODAY coach of the girls team Richard Forde said preparation has been going very well and they were getting a lot stronger as they improve on their fitness for the upcoming tournament scheduled for August 9 to 21 in Orlando, Florida.

“One of the things that surprise the girls is that I don’t think some of them have trained this hard in their lifetime before so it was a shock for them. But they are coming around and they understand what it takes to become a good player and everyday they come back although it is hard and not one of them has quit which is a good sign,” Forde said during the ongoing seven-week training camp now in its second week.

There are 28 females in training with a few ten-year olds among the lot and in Forde’s opinion the future looked bright.

“We have three girls who just sat the Common Entrance examination, we have twelve and fourteen year olds and I am happy with the mix, the future looks bright. We have some very good talent here and I believe that we will get through the first round and go onto the second round and I have no doubt about that,” he explained.

Barbados will feature in Group D against Anguilla, Curacao and United States Virgin Islands and once they are successful will then go on to face defending champions Canada who Forde said would be one of their biggest opponents in the competition.

Forde has received some much welcomed assistance from United States coach Roman Duchateau who told Barbados TODAY he was impressed with what he had seen from female footballers after being on the island more than ten days.

“The experience has been fantastic, the girls are working hard and improving everyday and have a positive attitude towards football and learning. . .They are all athletic, they work hard and most importantly, are looking to learn and have that positive attitude towards learning. So it is very nice to see,” said Duchateau, who has been into coaching since 2002.

Speaking on behalf of the BFA, chairman of the technical committee, Adrian Donovan, said they were very pleased at how both groups had taken to the camp and that both coaches were doing a fantastic job. He noted that the association stressed the importance of punctuality and discipline and they hope that this was the beginning of future camps.

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